Cement News tagged under: petcoke
New slide in oil pushing coal lower and petcoke below US$100 due to demand fears after new rate hikes22 May 2023, Published under Cement NewsBy Frank O. Brannvoll, Brannvoll ApS, Denmark IMF downgraded global growth to 2.8 per cent and warned of a “rocky recovery” due to inflation and falling demand. The US Federal Reserve (Fed) and the European Central Bank (ECB) continued the interest rate hikes with a further 0.25 per cent, leading to rates of 5.25 and 3.75 per cent for the Fed and ECB, respectively, and market fears of falling demand. Combined with the usual US debt ceiling theatre, this has sent the equity market and e... |
Coal price find supports while petcoke sees sharp fall01 May 2023, Published under Cement NewsBy Frank O. Brannvoll, Brannvoll ApS, Denmark Oil prices support the full energy complex and OPEC+ announced new production cuts totalling 1.6mb/d. Oil prices have risen from US$72/bbl to a high US$88/bbl but are now in their former range of US$80-90/bbl at US$81/bbl. Coal prices are finding support among strong supply and are stabilising at US$132 for the API4 contract. As expected, petcoke prices have fallen sharply below US$100, the first time since 2021, with discounts compared to... |
OPEC + surprise cut sends oil sharply higher, coal stable petcoke sliding sending discount back to neutral zone26 April 2023, Published under Cement NewsBy Frank O. Brannvoll, Brannvoll ApS, Denmark The story of inflation and central bank rate hikes continues. Inflation figures from the US were at five per cent in March, awaiting another 0.25 per cent hike from the Federal Reserve. The European Central Bank is also expected to raise rates as inflation remains high due to EU sanctions keeping energy prices relatively high to 2021 before sanctions. While banking problems have increased the fear of recession, China’s post-COVID opening up... |
Freight rates have potential to go higher after consolidation26 April 2023, Published under Cement NewsBy Brannvoll ApS, Denmark The USG Supramax freight market was taking a breather as charterers stepped away after the push in rates observed last month. Rates were slipping due to a lack of fronthaul activity. While the shipping volumes of transatlantic cargoes were steady, the lack of outbound grain and petcoke stems halted the market’s upwards trajectory. Figure 1: Supramax freight rates for petcoke from Houston, USA, March 2019-April 2023 As shown in Figure 1, freight ra... |
Very low petcoke discounts may lead to switch to coal08 March 2023, Published under Cement NewsThe price of a barrel of oil has returned to the lower end of the US$80-88 range. Gas prices were also down on the back of warm weather forecasts and the Turkey-Syria earthquakes, which are cooling demand. Coal prices continue to slip lower, along with other sources in the energy complex, as the fear of recession persists. The stable price of petcoke and very low discounts are expected to lead to fuel switches towards coal. The 6.5 per cent S petcoke FOB contract sold at US$137 while t... |
Oil in narrow range while coal continues lower – petcoke pressured lower as discounts fall sharply28 February 2023, Published under Cement NewsBy Frank O. Brannvoll, Brannvoll ApS, Denmark The markets are still dominated by hawkish statements from central banks due to the stubbornly high inflation both in the USA and Europe. Expectations see rates climb still higher and for a longer period. However, the good news is that a recession may be avoided. In the energy markets, the G7 round of new sanctions on Russian refined products do not seem to have had any major impact. The markets are locked between the China reopening and th... |
USG freight rates sharply down due to lack of cargoes27 February 2023, Published under Cement NewsBy Brannvoll ApS, Denmark The USG Supramax freight market was in free-fall throughout January amid a severe lack of new cargo offers for spot delivery dates. Despite the gradual return of Asia-based chartering managers from their Lunar New Year holidays, the USG Supramax segment kept weakening as reduced tonnage supply in the region put pressure on shipowners. Therefore, owners continued to drop their offers. However, charterers’ bids were even lower day by day and as a result, rates saw ... |
Oil and coal are falling, petcoke climbs higher23 February 2023, Published under Cement NewsBy Frank O. Brannvoll, Brannvoll ApS, Denmark Another month with the European Central Bank (ECB) and the US Federal Reserve in focus: in the US the interest rate has been increased by 0.25 per cent while the ECB notched up the rate by 0.5 per cent. However, inflation seems stubbornly high. Therefore, it is expected that rates will increase further and remain high for some time with fears of a recession continuing albeit to a lesser degree. The IMF has adjusted global growth up by 0.2 per... |
USG freight market stabilised by end of year02 February 2023, Published under Cement NewsBy Brannvoll ApS, Denmark The USG Supramax freight market went through ups and downs in December. In the first half of the month, the USG segment showed a steady flow of fresh enquiries. Owners started to raise their offers in response to an abundance of fronthaul petcoke cargoes combined with a decent volume of grains. Closer to the end of the month, sentiment started changing: activity levels decreased with minimal vessels left open for the rest of the month, while all the cargoes were ... |
Petcoke prices rising on growing demand while coal is falling as supply increases01 February 2023, Published under Cement NewsBy Frank O. Brannvol, Brannvoll ApS, Denmark lAs China reopens, oil is finding support, seeing a recovery in oil prices to surpass the US$85 mark. The warm winter in Europe and lower gas prices are taking off the pressure for demand in the region. However, Russia’s discount is still in place for countries that do not sanction Russian gas supplies (China, India and Turkey). Meanwhile, coal prices are falling as supply increases and demand is dropping as the fear of recession impacts mark... |